The Torn Veil
by thefanaticalfictionist
Summary: A book eight based on the epilogue. Despite Harry's belief that "All was well," when Albus goes to Hogwarts, he discovers that all is not well.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: I'm probably not the first person to do this. Correction, I am DEFFINITELY not the first person to do this. But I am attempting to continue the Harry Potter series using the characters Jo introduced in the Epilogue. I might change a couple of things. (In this story, Neville and Luna did marry, but Neville is still the professor of Herbology at Hogwarts.) Without further ado, here is chapter one of The Torn Veil. **

**Chapter One: The Hogwarts Express**

Albus Severus Potter waved outside the window at his family. They were waving back at him, and as the train pulled farther and farther away from them, the appeared smaller and smaller. Eventually they appeared to be a small dot, and there was no more point in waving. Albus closed the window and sat back in his seat, directly across from his cousin, Rose Weasely.

"Nervous?" she asked.

"How can you tell?" he said in response.

"You keep tapping on the window." Albus stopped moving his fingers. It was a habit of his.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Do you have motion sickness? My mom said it helps to look out a window."

Al shook his head. "I'll be alright." He looked down the aisle to see who he knew. Obviously his brother, James, who was laughing with other third year Gryffindors. He also saw Scorpio, who he knew of, but did not know personally. He was sitting with some children of former Slytherin, looking disinterested. Other than that, he didn't really know many of the people there.

Than he saw a boy about his age walking down the aisle. He was short, had brown hair and bulging eyes, and appeared to be shy. He was already dressed in his robes. He eventually came up to their compartment.

"C-can I sit here?" he asked.

"Why not?" said Rose. He sat down next to her.

"You look familiar." said Al.

"I think we might have met before." said the boy. "My name is Frank Longbottom."

"I remember you!" shouted Rose. "You're Neville and Luna's son!" Frank nodded. "I'm Rose Weasely, and this is Albus Potter."

"You're Ron and Hermione's daughter!" he said. "And you're Harry and Ginny's son!" he said pointing to Al. He nodded.

"Do you think it might be awkward having your father as a teacher?" Al asked

"Probably. I just hope he doesn't do anything embarrassing." Frank shuddered. He looked at Al. "Are you nervous?"

Al realized that he was taping his fingers again. He sighed. "A little."

"Maybe you should put on your robes." said Frank. "That made me feel a little better."

"Alright." said Al. He got up and walked to the bathroom at the back of the aisle.

Just when he finished slipping on his robe, the trains came to a sudden stop, causing Al to slam against the bathroom door. The lights went out, leaving him in complete darkness.

"Great." he said. He opened the door and began to walk back to his compartment. He felt eyes on him and realized that everyone was staring at him, as if it were his fault.

Al sat back down in the compartment. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm not su-" Rose stopped midsentence and her eyes widened in fear.

"Rose, are you okay?" asked Albus. Rose did not respond.

"Um, Al?" said Frank. He was pointing toward the aisle.

Al looked out and saw what was making Rose afraid. On the windows and glass door were hundreds of metallic spiderlike things. They were each about the size of a dinner plate and didn't appear to be doing any harm, other than the fact that the train wasn't moving. Then a humanoid figure began strolling down the aisle. It was about seven feet tall and in golden armor from head to toe. His head swayed back and forth from one side of the aisle to the other. He eventually came to look at Albus. In that moment, he could feel this person's emotions when it looked at him. It loathed him. Despised him with all its being. And Albus had no idea why.

It lingered on him for a couple of seconds before continuing down the aisle. It eventually exited the train, and with it went the spiders. The lights went on and the train started up again.

Rose was panting heavily. "Is she alright?" asked Frank.

"No." said Al. "She has arachnophobia. Like her dad."

"Is there anything that calms her down?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should talk to her."

"Rose." said Al calmly, looking into her eyes. "The spiders are gone now. You have nothing to fear."

Rose's breathing slowed. "Thanks." she said.

"Look!" exclaimed one of the first years, who was apparently unfazed by the incident. "Hogsmeade!"

Suddenly everyone became excited and looked at the town. Across the lake they could see the towers or Hogwarts. The trains slowed to a stop. This time, however, the stop was expected.

Hagrid boarded the train. "First years, come with me!" he bellowed.

**Please review, and thank you for reading! Sorry for the short chapter, and I'll update when I can!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay guys, I'm updating only a day after I posted the first chapter, but don't expect it to stay like this. I'm going on vacation, so I might not be able to update this for a couple of days. I will try though. The hotel has free wifi. But I'm not sure I'll have time to write. And then a couple of days after I get back, I start school again, and I might be super busy. I'll try to update when I can, but school and family come first. Also, I accidentally said that Scorpius's name was Scorpio in the previous chapter. I will not make the same mistake for this one.**

**Chapter Two: An Interesting Sorting**

Hagrid led the first years off the train and to the docks, where the boats were waiting for them.

"Alright, no more than four to a boat!" he said. "I can't have any of ye sinking!"

Al, Rose, and Frank all climbed into one boat. Scorpius went to a boat, but the four friends he was with all climbed in before him.

"Sorry," said one of the girls without a hint of sympathy in her voice. "No room." Scorpio looked around at all of the other boats, but most of them were already full.

"You can come ride with us!" piped up Frank.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" whispered Al. From the apprehensive look on Scorpio's face, it appeared like he was thinking the same thing.

"There are no other boats that have room, and he can't go alone." said Frank.

Scorpius sighed. "Fine." he huffed. "But don't think that makes us friends." He climbed in and sat down with a plop.

They rode to Hogwarts in silence. This gave Albus some time to think. Why would every suddenly forget about what happened on the train? Even Rose, who practically went into shock, seemed to look like it never even happened.

And then he started to think of the people on the boat. Scorpius acted like he was cold and mean, but for some reason, it seemed like a façade to Al. Frank was very shy, but at the same time he was also very friendly. It seemed that his kindness overpowered his shyness. And Rose; well, Al knew Rose his entire life. He didn't need to think about her.

After a short period of time, the boats docked at Hogwarts, and the students got off. They followed Hagrid up the steps to the school. There they were greeted by a woman who appeared to be in her late 30s.

"Welcome," she exclaimed, "to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My name is Professor Diod, and I teach potions here. Please follow me into the Great Hall so that we can get you sorted."

Albus was impressed by how, well, how _great_ the Great Hall was. James had described it to him, but it was nothing compared to seeing it in real life. The ceiling actually looked like the night sky, except Al could see the ones that he normally wouldn't be able to, due to light pollution. It gave him a feeling of awe.

The students formed a line in alphabetical order. At this point, Professor Diod took out a three legged stool and set it down. She then placed an old hat on top. A seem in the hat ripped open to act as a mouth, and it began to sing:

_A thousand years or more ago  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known:_

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,  
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,  
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,  
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,  
They hatched a daring plan  
To educate young sorcerers  
Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders  
Formed their own house, for each  
Did value different virtues  
In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
Prized far beyond the rest;  
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
Most worthy of admission;  
And power-hungry Slytherin  
Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide  
Their favourites from the throng,  
Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
When they were dead and gone?

Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
He whipped me off his head  
The founders put some brains in me  
So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never yet been wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!

The students all began to clap, and soon the first student was being called up. Albus wasn't interested until they started calling up his friends.

"Longbottom, Frank." said Professor Diod. Neville stood up and started clapping. He was the only one to do so, because most clapping was reserved until after the student was sorted. Headmistress McGonagall glared at him, and he sat down. All the students laughed, except Frank, who blushed. He walked up and sat down on the stool.

Frank was shocked by the short amount of time it took to sort him. The second the hat touched his head, it screamed "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The people at the Hufflepuff table stood and cheered, and Frank walked down to join his housemates.

Soon after, Professor Diod called "Malfoy, Scorpius." Scorpius walked up nervously to the stool. He sat down and the Hat was plopped onto his head. For him, the sorting hat took much longer to decide. However, after a couple of moments, the hat declared "SLYTHERIN!" This did not come as a surprise to anyone in the room except for Scorpius himself, who walked nervously over to the green table.

After a few more names, Diod called, "Potter, Albus." Any people who were murmuring and whispering before had stopped. They were all eager to see what house this next son of the boy who lived would be placed in.

Albus walked toward the stool, tapping his fingers on his leg. He sat down on the stool and Professor Diod placed the hat on his head. He immediately began to chant quietly. "Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin."

"Apparently your father can't keep a secret." said the Sorting Hat. "But I wonder why he told you that and not James. Really, I think you could do very well in Slytherin. You're more of a Slytherin than your father was, and he had a part of Voldemort's soul in him. Well, if you don't want Slytherin, then I guess you'd better be… RAVENCLAW!"

There was a stunned moment of silence. It was one thing that the son of Gryffindor's head of house would be in Hufflepuff, but Harry Potter's son in Ravenclaw? It seemed impossible. And then all of the people at the Ravenclaw table stood and cheered. Albus walked down to join them.

A couple more people were sorted, and then it came to Rose's turn. The Sorting Hat thought for a couple of moments, and then it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" The last couple of people were sorted, and then McGonagall gave the welcoming speech. Albus didn't really listen, though. Partly because he already knew everything she would say, and partly because he had so much to think about. Not that he was disappointed with Ravenclaw. He knew nobody else in his house. This day was just getting better and better.

**Thank you for reading and please review! With your comments I can make this better!**


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